ACFR participates in national 'Stop the Bleed' campaign

March 31, 2018. Joining thousands of other agencies across the nation, Adams County Fire Rescue participated in today's national "Stop the Bleed" campaign. Launched in 2015 by the White House, “Stop the Bleed” is a national awareness campaign and a call to action. March 31, 2018 was the day selected to cultivate grassroots efforts that encourage bystanders to become trained, equipped and empowered to help in a bleeding emergency before professional help arrives.

The reasoning behind the campaign, is that no matter how rapid the arrival of professional emergency responders, bystanders will always be first on the scene. A person who is bleeding can die from blood loss within minutes, therefore, it is important to quickly stop the blood loss. Those nearest to someone with life-threatening injuries are best positioned to provide first care.

"From a psychologic point of view, if bystanders have the skills and they can help their friends or loved ones, they won't feel desperate and distraught before help arrives," said Dave Baldwin, ACFR Division Chief of EMS. "In addition to today's event, we've taught these skills at our area schools. Even people as young as middle schoolers are extremely capable of deploying the skills needed to stop traumatic bleeding."

As recently as March 9, Chief Baldwin, Captain Eric Schultz and Thornton Fire EMS Chief Rusty Richardson taught about 60 students at Rocky Top Middle School how to apply direct pressure to a wound, when you can use tourniquets and when you can't, and also when to pack wounds prior to applying pressure. Today, ACFR participated at Mile High Karate at 11265 Decatur St. One of those students was 12-year-old Derick Baca, who convinced his uncle David Baca to take him to the free lesson.

"I wanted to come in case we ever needed to apply these skills in real life," Derick said. "It was fun, and it wasn't hard. I can see us having to use this while camping. Everyone should do it."

The event organization, along with the training materials and supplies, was organized and provided locally by the Mile High Regional Emergency Medical and Trauma Advisory Council (RETAC). Also assisting in the event were EMT students from the Bollman Technical Education Center of the Adams 12 School District.

"Our tagline is 'Partners in Saving Lives,' so we try to do things to promote safety among the citizens of Colorado," said Shirley Terry, Executive Director for RETAC. "We have to teach the community to take care of one another because people can die in minutes. Our goal is to empower people to act while first responders are in route."

Chief Baldwin points out that survibability of patients drastically improves when bystanders are giving valuable first aid when they arrive.

"Average response times across the nation for fire and EMS services are four minutes," Baldwin said. "You can bleed to death in two to three minutes. With heart attacks, you can have irreversible brain damage in six minutes. So it's very important for citizens to jump in and stop the bleeding or do CPR right away. So when we do get there with medications and defribilators, there will be a successful outcome."

If you missed today's Stop the Bleed and CPR classes, ACFR will be offering additional public events throughout the year. Those will be announced on acfpd.org and on our social media platforms.Click on photos to enlarge and read a caption.